Some of you may know Pepe el Ferreiro (Jose Naveiras Escanlar) from having visited the ethnographic museum in Grandas de Salime. To get there, you need to battle twisting roads and drive into serious mountain territory.

It's all worth it in the end because Grandas is a special place. The people are like out of a tale, with each bar at night containing characters from a part of Asturian history that no longer exists in the cities, where people are taught to be ashamed of their grandparents.

Pepe is the director of the museum (http://www.museodegrandas.com) and he wears his black beret proudly. He's from a family of blacksmiths (ferreiros, in both Galician and Asturian) and his father Benino passed on a wealth of know-how. It's all on display at the museum.

Now, the regional government of Asturias, jealous of Pepe's success in locking people into West Asturian counties that had nothing to show for themselves, is trying to boot him out of the museum he himself started in the cellar of the local town hall in the 1970s. People thought he was crazy then, like any one who has a highly original idea.

Read the article in La Nueva today (Jan. 25, 2010) for the details of how Eustaquio Revilla, the county mayor, and Mercedes Alvarez, the councilor for Culture, are attempting to oust him from the museum. There's a demonstration in the Asturian capital tomorrow at 3:30 pm outside the Calatrava building in Pepe's support for those of you in Asturias. He needs all the support we can give him.

Is, Do you see this as a product of the economic crisis?¿Is, lo ves siendo un producto de la crisis económica?

It goes back to before the financial crisis. About 2 years ago, the mayor of Grandas (Eustaquio Revilla, PSOE/FSA) was using back channels to remove Pepe from the ethnographic museum for let's say 'personal convenience'.

The shortage of funding at the Conseyeiria Cultura (Cultural Council of Asturias, headed by Mercedes Alvarez) probably informs this in some way as funding for ethnographic museums has been slashed by 50%, according to LNE. Even so, the museum had 21,000 paying visitors in 2009.

In comparison, look at how much the Areces government spends on ridiculous megalomaniac projects like the Universidad Laboral, sucking up millions of euros in capital investment in a project that draws very few people.

Still this is mainly a character-driven issue, with Pepe's honesty and hard work appearing like a slap in the face to the vicious Asturian politicians in the capital who think in lockstep (the PSOE/FSA should consider rebranding itself as a blackshirt party).

Thanks for the facebook links. We need as many people as possible to join the 'Apoyo a Pepe el Ferreiro' group because the Asturian media is featuring the number of sympathizers in its coverage of this story and it could influence decision-making.

For those unaware of Asturian regional politics, the PSOE/FSA (Socialist Party) is the direct inheritor of power after the death of dictator Francisco Franco, similar that way to successor parties in Romania after Ceaucescu's death.

It is neither liberal in an American context, nor social democratic in a European context.

The decission to get rid of Pepe el Ferreiro is not only wrong or unfair it is very unpopular too , the saddest thing is that they will just get away with it ... in asturian politics accountability is an unknown concept ,,,

you can read below Juan Neira's article in La Nueva today ,,, I think he hits the spot ,,,

Entrenched power believes it can act with impunity. And it can, perhaps for a very long time, until their citizens get fed up. Voters can throw them out, but that's less likely when politicians have paid everyone off.

I'm not sure I would label it entrenched power anymore, Art. The situation is bringing things back to my memory from when I lived in Russia in 2004-05. At the time, people still labeled Vladimir Putin as a 'democracy manager', that is, not entirely a democrat, but at least a manager of something vaguely related to democracy. He went on to oust Khodorkovsky out of Yukos that year, alleging tax irregularities.

The scale is different, of course. We're talking Asturias here, not the Russian Federation with its 11 time zones and 150 million people.

Still, I think Asturias is in trouble. This new Socialist totalitarian style is being driven by Javier Fernandez, the FSA Secretary, who has a disciplinarian type character. He has been described as monkish (monxu, in Asturian) for delivering sermon-type speeches to FSA members. He's spooky: skeletons in his closet.

What happened to Pepe is clearly purge, even if Pepe is by far not a member of the PSOE. In an American context, he would be considered a leftish libertarian with rugged individualism in his DNA. Very American and a man of the people, if you ask me.

About the museum, it's inconceivable without Pepe. How can you explain the fact that Central Asturian ethnographic museums register a mean average of 1,000 visitors, while Pepe's museum in far-flung Grandas received 21,000 in 2009?

Now, the regional government has 'installed' a 48-year-old man from Segovia (Castile) in Pepe's place, a guy called Francisco Cuesta who is a cousin of a PSOE senator in Madrid (Alvaro Cuesta). Apparently, he grew up in Catalonia and speaks Catalan. Grandas de Salime, where locals speak a Galician dialect, is no place for this man.

My sister and I visited the museum in 2008:

The museum is a live ethnographic exhibit--Pepe used the lareira (kitchen) to smoke chourizos. The smell alone was transporting.

How interesting to check out different versions of the story of Pepe el Ferreiro in the Asturian media. The daily in Xixon (Gijon), El Comercio, is a tired, PSOE-affiliated newspaper that totes the party line. Here is today's coverage, based solely on soundbites by PSOE officials, making all this sound very routine. You have to be lobotomized to accept their version of events:

Carlos and Susana took JoAnne and I to visit Pepe's museum in 2005, I think. We spent a half day there and could have spent much longer. The museum has fascinating displays of tools, madreñas (wooden shoes), typical shops, farms, and homes. I'd recommend it to anyone. It's well worth a visit.

So he's kicked out for being a nuisance and substituted by a Castilian guy. What a shame and humiliation...

The way this country works is dreadful. Democracy and liberty?, not here. The caciquismo is the modus operandi of our politicians and is killing us. Unfortunately we the people don't protest en masse against this kind of vile actions. I have the impression that in the US people is more aggressive toward political corruption, but here everything is tolerated...

Yes, Villamil, shame and humiliation. But it is also vile, cruel and totalitarian. I would agree with you that this kind of thing would have a greater echo in the US or northern Europe. But I'm happy to see that the LNE is carrying news every day and you can read the hundreds of comments people are leaving in support of Pepe from all over Asturias. Facebook is closing in on 4,000 people as of Friday, Jan. 29.

Still, it is disheartening to follow this from a distance. Apparently, Pepe handed over the key to Antonio (the museum guide) and was not even allowed to pick up his personal items: books, notepads, mementos of his father Benino. The depth of this cruel act can only reside in evil and although I've never subscribed to the idea, I have come to learn that some people are, in fact, exactly that. We should not let them get away with this.

Here is the daily article on the scandal in LNE. I suggest reading the comments thread there to feel the tension in Asturias over this:

...the cruelty that they're using isn't really surprising. I've always thought that the psychopathy is a very common disorder among our politicians.

Actually, I disagree. I never could have imagined the depth of their cruelty. I always thought there would be people within PSOE/FSA who had a conscience, a real one, not an artificial one.

It is so clear to everyone that they are attacking a simple man who turned an inherently uninteresting ethnographic museum into a place with near-cult status because of its uniqueness. Someone here (Eustaquio Revilla?) was jealous.

Revilla, apparently, is a 'recent' cardholder of the PSOE/FSA. He is not an old timer Socialist, but someone who recognized that his property interests could be furthered by becoming a member of the PSOE/FSA. Again, the depth of the filth here is astounding.

I have read thru El Comercio Digital that IU has proposed Pepe el Ferreiro as representant of the Cultural Patrimony Council (who btw, accepted), in order to substitute Mari Paz López, who renounced to her charge.

If well I'm very happy to see the most adequate character to drive such an important task such as defending our cultural legacy, I hint a political battle afterwards.